US Ambassador to Kuwait spends time with Champion Among Us stars

HE Lawrence Silverman’s visit promotes concept of cultural exchange of children through sports

KUWAIT CITY, Aug 19: US Ambassador to Kuwait His Excellency Lawrence Silverman spends time with Champion Among Us stars in Sports Development Camp at Kuwait Sports Club

US Ambassador Silverman: Champion Among Us is a wonderful model as a development program; a model that must be applied globally.

It is very difficult today to attract this generation with physical activities but Champion Among Us exceeded expectations and exceeded the barriers.

To see a community working hard to spread the culture of gender equality through sport, to disseminate the goals of sustainable development, and to work to enable a culturally educated generation … This is a truly proud act.

Balsam Al-Ayoub: The visit of the American ambassador to Champion Among Us promotes the concept of cultural exchange of children through sports and reflect an advanced image of Kuwait sport movement.

US Ambassador His Excellency Laurence Silverman met with the stars of Champion Among Us in their sports development camp for the month of August at the Kuwait Sports Club to spend a full day with the children to practice various activities and learn about their sports exercises, cultural activities and art workshops.

The first activity was a gymnastics training session with coach Ahmed Khattab, who provided training for fitness and different skills in the training of gymnastics. The next activityinvolved trainer and international referee Eman Al Kout training the children in Taekwondo to review their motor skills, followed by a chess session with Champion chess trainer Eatedal Al-Maraj.

The trainer explained chess as a mental sport and organized a chess game with the American Ambassador, who was a match without competition and pleasure to help the young stars of both rivals.

The training then turned into sports stations for badminton, speedball and fencing withfencing champion Balsam Al-Ayoub and speedball coach Maitham Dashti, where the children were divided into groups and accompanied by the US Ambassador to each group separately.

Futsal coach Captain Nawaf Al Otaibi then trained children on futsal skills and organized a match between the two teams of Champion Among Us, where he joined the US team as a goalkeeper.

Before the American Ambassador’s departure he participated in a tie dye art workshop to create a colourfultshirt helped by Champion Among Us star Farah Faisal Al Qatifi.

The American Ambassador had lunch with the Champion Among Us children, engaging with them to talk about healthy food, his work as an Ambassador, his love for sport, and also some stories from his childhood. “It was a wonderful experience for me to try all these beautiful sports such as badminton, fencing, football and chess with the children and get them training and participating.

These children are a model for their peers and role models. It is really wonderful that a bunch of children aged 5-12 years old practice these activities on a daily basis and actually communicate with each other away from smart devices and electronic games. This is really amazing.

The most beautiful of these is that Champion Among Us focuses on the physical and mental aspects. The training that the child receives as a minor will inevitably affect the style of thinking and character formation. Fencing and chess are two of the most beautiful mental sports that help the child to solve problems and draw strategies, planning and diplomacy. Chess exercises really are amazing.

And the most precious gifts I have received from the children todayare the wonderful drawings that I painted during my visit to express the friendship between the two countries and appreciation of my participation in their activities.

I commend the developmental role of the Kuwait Sports Club. It is indeed a great example of social and developmental sports projects that contribute to creating the importance of promoting the concept of sports culture in Kuwaiti society as a practice, not just as a competition.

I also congratulate Champion Balsam Al Ayoub and her team for continuing to organize Champion Among Us camp for the fourth year in a row. Working with children especially in sports is never easy and spending 6 hours a day in training requires great effort and an innovative and attractive schedule that gives children the desire to return the next day to learn more. They are committed to attending every day.

I thank the children of the stars for their ethics and culture, champion Balsam Al Ayoub and all the coaches participating in the Champion Among Us camp and Kuwait Sports Club for their dedication, their sporting and educational role, and for their generous invitation to me.”

Champion Balsam Al-Ayoub statement

She said: “I am proud today that Champion Among Us has become a global model. I thank the American Ambassador for his distinguished visit which has really enriched us, which contributed to creating a distinctive image of the Ambassador’s character in children and his active participation in various activities and discussions.

In this role, we focus on the concept of creating sports heroes and stars in societies. These kind of visits enrich the child’s culture, teaches him, and enables him to discuss and exchange his experiences with others in different fields.

Certainly, if we focus on the development of the children’s personality, we will have a generation that understands the importance of sport and its role in empowering individuals and developing communities as well as developing leadership skills that will help them create sports programs that serve their country and community members and evolve from the sporting movement in general.

I thank the Kuwait Sports Club and Khalid Ali Al Ghanim, Vice Chairman of the Board for their absolute support to our champion camp, the establishment of a permanent center for training children throughout the year, and all trainers and staff for their continuous hard work.

It is worth mentioning that Champion Among Us is a developmental sports program launched by Champion Balsam Al-Ayoub in the summer of 2015 in partnership with Kuwait Sports Club to support the goals of sustainable development of the United Nations and gender equality in sport.

The program was internationally recognized and documented in the same year as a documentary by Japanese channel NHK World Japan and selected as the best children’s developmental sports program for the 5-12 age group. Children are trained in 10 Olympic sports and mental sports too as well as cultural, artistic and life skills such as: art,public culture, humanitarian work, agriculture, cooking, personal empowerment, discussion and developing their social skills.”